Letters: Obamacare, inauguration

If you're unsure about where or how to submit a letter to the editor, all of the answers can be found here.
Erin Collins, Lebanon Daily News

Obama's actions are legal

In response to the Opinion Page article in the Jan 14 Daily News, if the Constitution says that Federal Government can only hold land obtained as in Article I Section 8, then the VA and the National Park Service and lots of other agencies using federally-owned land are in trouble.

Article 1 Section 8 (the only place I can find reference to land ownership) allows Congress to be the sole authority in D.C. and on lands granted by its State for purposes like military (and other necessary) uses.

National Monuments are not solely governed by Congress. They lie in state's legal jurisdiction (when they're in a state). Congress can manage them like any property owner can, including delegating specific management authority to presidents if it wishes. It did so in 1906, with the Antiquities Act, and that law is still in force, and was used by all but three presidents since it was passed. (I think that means it's not "obsolete", but that's a question about that law, not Obama's actions.)

So if Congress does it, that's fine, and if George W. Bush and Gerald Ford and Dwight Eisenhower do it, it's naughty, but if Obama does it, it's a president overreaching his authority? I don't think so.

You're entitled to be unhappy about the size and number of new National Monuments created by Obama. But I think ordinary federal ownership of land is established as legal, and Congress's delegation of authority to presidents about management of that land (e.g. protecting antiquities on it) is legal and needed, and Obama's actions are legal. And I would defend Trump's authority to use it, too, even if I disagree with his specific uses.

- Mike Fry, Lebanon

Preparing for distress

Flying the American flag upside down is recognized as a sign of dire distress or of extreme danger to life or property. I planned to fly my flag upside down on Friday, January 20, as a protest to the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the next President of the United States. However, according to the U.S. Flag Code, it is not OK to do so in protest.

I sincerely believe the new President will prove a disaster for our nation. Call me a sore loser but I think all U.S. citizens--those who voted for and those who voted against Mr. Trump--will be losers if he continues his juvenile and irrational comments and tweets.

Because of his petulant, thin-skinned and narcissistic behavior, I'm particularly concerned for all the members of our Armed Forces and their families.

The Donald has been complaining about fake news stories. Let us not forget that he initiated fake news eight years ago by declaring that President Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen.

While he remains in office it will be difficult to sing the words to "You're a Grand Old Flag." That line about "there's never a boast or a brag" will be meaningless whenever Trump begins self-praising himself.

But there's a chance the new President won't finish four years in office. His questionable business dealings may catch up with him or he may copy Sarah Palin and step down before his term is up.